How to find the best WordPress developers for you: Part 9 – Payment terms

This is the ninth post in a series of posts about “How you can find the best WordPress developers for you“.

Here are links to the content we have covered so far:

Day 1: Experience
Day 2: Expertise
Day 3: Price
Day 4: Standards
Day 5: Communication Skills
Day 6: Timekeeping
Day 7: Location
Day 8: Size of Team

Today we are looking at something that isn’t very sexy, that doesn’t mean it’s not important though.

9) Payment Terms

Payment terms are often forgotten and whilst are not the most important item on this list, they are a good indicator of the professionalism of the development team you are looking for.

Find out as soon as you can what the terms are and whether they fit into your plans for the project. Find out when payment is expected and by what payment method. If they are expecting payment by something weird like a cheque (how very 90’s) or Paypal (how expensive), then you might need to speak to your accounts department to even see if that is possible.

The best development teams will allow for BACS transfers on 14 to 30-day terms. Easy to pay and easy to structure.

Developers who also do not have any flexibility in payment terms might not be suitable for your needs. If you are on 30-day terms with your client and the developer is on 14-day terms and won’t budge then you may have cash flow issues whilst waiting to get paid by your client. It’s a question of weighing up the risk.

Good development teams have the flexibility to accommodate your payment terms and compromise where required as an act of goodwill. They are looking to have you as a long-term client so anything small like this can help the relationship.

If they don’t have any payment terms then I wouldn’t recommend using them, they are probably not organised enough to be an asset to your business.

Questions to ask:

• What are your terms of payment? – Nice and simple and very much like the question in a previous post about day rates. If they don’t know the answer to this or they say something like “oh, whenever is good with you” then that is a strong indicator that they are not treating this professionally.
• Do you have any flexibility in your payment terms? – This is often important as you will need to manage your own cash flow and make sure that you have the money coming in to pay for the development.

In the final post in this series, we will look at ‘security‘, talk about why it’s often forgotten and also why it’s so important.